A viral TikTok video posted on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's fourth wedding anniversary has reopened a debate online as to whether Kate Middleton wore white to her brother-in-laws nuptials in 2018.
The video posted by TikTok account matta_of_fact which has over 600,000 followers responded to a viewer query about Kate's coat dress ensemble worn to the St George's Chapel, Windsor marriage ceremony.
"You are definitely not alone if you are looking at pictures of Kate at Harry and Meghan's wedding and thinking 'hang on—why is she wearing white?'" the account owner says in the clip.
"People still argue about Kate's outfit that day."
@matta_of_fact Reply to @sosillysharon Did #KateMiddleton wear white to #MeghanMarkle’s #royalwedding or not? 🧐 #duchessofcambridge #duchessofsussex #royaltea #royalfashion #britishroyals #harryandmeghan ♬ Hip Hop with impressive piano sound(793766) - Dusty Sky
The rest of the clip, which has been viewed over 100,000 times, goes on to contextualize the debate which is focussed on whether the Alexander McQueen coat dress worn by Kate on the day was white or, as palace sources said on the day, primrose yellow.
The video has received nearly 1000 comments leading with a user's post reading: "Too close to off-white to be appropriate" and another, "Ok it's yellow but it's very close to white and appears white in photos and I think it's just wrong."
A further comment from a TikTok user posted to the video states: "It was yellow. Not her fault the photos were overexposed."
The debate took on new weight in the months after Harry and Meghan's wedding when speculation rose about the relationship between the two sisters-in-law.
In November 2018, British tabloid The Sun ran a front page headline reading "Meghan Made Kate Cry: Bride's strict demands over Charlotte dress reduced her to tears."
This story was officially disputed by Meghan three years later in her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. When asked by the host if she made Kate cry, Meghan responded: "No. The reverse happened...She was upset about something. She owned it and bought me flowers."
A Buckingham Palace issued press release on the day of the wedding clarified the white/yellow debate, listing along with the outfits of other members of the royal family:
"Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge will be wearing a primrose yellow wool silk tailored coat by Alexander McQueen. The Duchess of Cambridge is wearing a hat designed by Philip Treacy and shoes by Jimmy Choo."
The bright sunlight has been attributed to the confusion over the color of the coat dress causing it to photograph ambiguously in its glare. When later photographs were released of the wedding party inside Windsor Castle the color difference became more obvious.
The mistake was an easy assumption to make as previously Kate had worn an identical coat dress from McQueen, down to the last detail but in white, to the christening of Princess Charlotte in 2015.
Since the wedding Kate has also debuted a third variation of the coat dress in pale blue worn to the 100th anniversary celebrations for the Royal Air Force in July 2018.
Kate's decision to wear a style she already owned for the royal wedding was seen by some as a way of not pulling focus from the bride and others as a snub by not putting in an effort to dress to the nines in celebration.
Caroline Leaper for The Telegraph wrote on the wedding day, "Does it matter? Was it a big snub for Kate to re-wear something that she had worn before? Or was she trying to be sisterly, allowing Meghan to have her spotlight on the most important day of her life?"
In the matta_of_fact Tiktok video the poster offers that they believed Kate could have put "a little more thought and care" into the outfit "especially considering that Meghan was an American bride marrying into a British family and in America you will never catch a wedding guest wearing white."
Meghan and Kate have not been seen together publicly since the Sussexes moved to America in 2020 and not since the broadcast of the Winfrey interview.
Royal watchers anticipate the pair to make an appearance at one of the events planned to celebrate the queen's Platinum Jubilee in June.
A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan confirmed to Newsweek earlier this month that:
"Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are excited and honored to attend The Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations this June with their children."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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